0:00:04 > 0:00:07The Old Grey Whistle Test was a real appointment.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09There was nowhere else to get music.
0:00:09 > 0:00:11And there wasn't really anywhere
0:00:11 > 0:00:13you could see the sort of music that I wanted to hear.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16But here you could see people playing it live
0:00:16 > 0:00:17and for real in the studio.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20You'd go to Top Of The Pops for camp treasure,
0:00:20 > 0:00:24you'd go to the Old Grey Whistle Test hoping they'd give you
0:00:24 > 0:00:26the obscurity you'd heard about.
0:00:26 > 0:00:28You'd never know what you were gonna see,
0:00:28 > 0:00:30therefore you wouldn't want to miss it.
0:00:30 > 0:00:32There were some dark times...
0:00:32 > 0:00:36That means it ultimately ended up with 22-minute guitar solos,
0:00:36 > 0:00:38and concept albums about the woods.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41Some of it was pompous beyond belief.
0:00:41 > 0:00:43But there's no doubt that, in its time,
0:00:43 > 0:00:48the Whistle Test was educating an entire generation about music.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57These days, music channels are ten a penny,
0:00:57 > 0:00:59but back in the '70s,
0:00:59 > 0:01:04in the land before MTV, reality pop stars and MySpace,
0:01:04 > 0:01:06rock was hairy, and underground.
0:01:06 > 0:01:08Blokes played serious music, very seriously,
0:01:08 > 0:01:10but for some reason,
0:01:10 > 0:01:12they had difficulty getting a gig on national TV.
0:01:12 > 0:01:15In the late '60s, variety was king,
0:01:15 > 0:01:19and your aspiring pop star soon learnt to host their own show.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21Take a bow, Val!
0:01:21 > 0:01:26Good old Top Of The Pops was BBC1's catch-all for all things pop.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29People who have an audience ought to be heard.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33Perhaps it's my fault that I don't appreciate them.
0:01:33 > 0:01:34The Pink Floyd.
0:01:34 > 0:01:38Now, your more earnest rock fans sought their furtive pleasures
0:01:38 > 0:01:40on the BBC's late night arts programmes,
0:01:40 > 0:01:42where they gave thanks for the few arcane morsels
0:01:42 > 0:01:45that excited their far-out musical taste.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48Until the faithful were finally, truly, blessed
0:01:48 > 0:01:50with their very own music programme.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56The Old Grey Whistle Test launched on BBC2 in 1971,
0:01:56 > 0:02:01as a late-night haven where the acts played music live instead of miming.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04There was a serious divide between rock and pop,
0:02:04 > 0:02:06though there were those who straddled it.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08Basically, rock bands who had hit singles
0:02:08 > 0:02:10were allowed onto Top Of The Pops.
0:02:10 > 0:02:16# Oh Maggie, I couldn't have tried any more... #
0:02:16 > 0:02:19MUSIC: "Top Of The Pops" Theme Tune
0:02:19 > 0:02:21A lot of it was pretty cheesy stuff, really.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25They would get Bowie on, and Alice Cooper, and a lot of Marc Bolan,
0:02:25 > 0:02:28which was quite important, but for those who were fascinated by,
0:02:28 > 0:02:34and starting to be in bands, I think the Old Grey Whistle Test
0:02:34 > 0:02:38was for "serious" music fans and "serious" musicians.
0:02:44 > 0:02:46The weird thing about it
0:02:46 > 0:02:49was the lack of an audience. Y'know, it was done in a studio like this,
0:02:49 > 0:02:52and they're in that amazing atmosphere,
0:02:52 > 0:02:55in an empty studio, without people there.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06Ah, beautiful song, that, it's Richard and Linda Thompson.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09I suppose, maybe what they were trying to do was
0:03:09 > 0:03:11not be Top Of The Pops,
0:03:11 > 0:03:14and Top Of The Pops, a big thing would be the audience was there,
0:03:14 > 0:03:17and the cameras would show them quite a lot,
0:03:17 > 0:03:20and people would jump in front of the camera and go, "Ah!"
0:03:20 > 0:03:21and all this kind of stuff.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25There was a slightly different ethos to the Old Grey Whistle Test,
0:03:25 > 0:03:30where, um, almost it became a little bit too earnest in the end.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33But it was where people took the music more seriously.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37# The decks were stacked The wind blew low
0:03:37 > 0:03:39# The wind blew high! #
0:03:39 > 0:03:44Back then, it really was like, you had to work hard to get your stuff,
0:03:44 > 0:03:48and sometimes The Old Grey Whistle Test would give you the treat
0:03:48 > 0:03:51of giving you what you lusted for but seemed so obscure.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55It wasn't in the charts, it didn't have a commercial reason to exist.
0:03:55 > 0:03:56It had another reason to exist.
0:03:57 > 0:04:02# Got to make her roll Got to make her fly
0:04:02 > 0:04:06# Upon the My-Oh-My. #
0:04:06 > 0:04:08It was new stuff, untried.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11People had never been in a television studio before,
0:04:11 > 0:04:14they'd never been on television, a lot of the artists,
0:04:14 > 0:04:17so that was what made it exciting.
0:04:17 > 0:04:19It was very experimental.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28You would watch The Whistle Test knowing that there was gonna be
0:04:28 > 0:04:31some dreadful noise that you didn't particularly like very much,
0:04:31 > 0:04:33but you were gonna discover something new.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40Despite their only show being monickered both "Old" and "Grey",
0:04:40 > 0:04:43the hairy rockers were seriously happy at last.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45But what did the BBC bigwigs
0:04:45 > 0:04:48make of this weird little guttersnipe of a show?
0:04:50 > 0:04:53Whistle Test kind of slipped under the radar,
0:04:53 > 0:04:55as far as the BBC was concerned.
0:04:55 > 0:04:57Nobody at that time was doing anything
0:04:57 > 0:05:01that looked into a slightly more progressive area of rock music.
0:05:01 > 0:05:06And I think the hierarchy of Light Entertainment at that time
0:05:06 > 0:05:07didn't want to go there.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10It wasn't their roots, they didn't feel it was theirs.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13And so I, sort of, in a rather piratical way,
0:05:13 > 0:05:17grabbed it, and made it our own.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20# No-one likes us
0:05:20 > 0:05:22# I don't know why... #
0:05:22 > 0:05:26There was this kind of guerrilla group making these programmes,
0:05:26 > 0:05:29which probably the rest of the BBC didn't really understand.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31Those up top would have been so far removed from it
0:05:31 > 0:05:33that they would have thought,
0:05:33 > 0:05:36that having Lynyrd Skynyrd on, or Randy Newman or whatever,
0:05:36 > 0:05:38was just like Gary Glitter.
0:05:38 > 0:05:42It was just music, and these kids seem very enthusiastic about it,
0:05:42 > 0:05:44and we'd better have it cos they've got a passion for it.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47And the BBC indulged that kind of passion.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49# Come on baby... #
0:05:49 > 0:05:52Youthful passions may have been indulged,
0:05:52 > 0:05:54but the budget was sensibly sparse.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57The show was obliged to adopt a simple visual style,
0:05:57 > 0:05:59where less was definitely less.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04The way the studio was, it was bare,
0:06:04 > 0:06:07it was completely naked, in fact.
0:06:07 > 0:06:12No television video effects, no flashing lights.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16But in a way, that's what kind of gives it a period charm, there.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20Those kind of anal people with lots of records, were going,
0:06:20 > 0:06:23"Yeah, I mean, look, that's an original Peavey amp,
0:06:23 > 0:06:26"and look, they're using the old Arriflex lights...
0:06:26 > 0:06:28"It's incredible..."
0:06:28 > 0:06:32In a way, that becomes a style. Kind of...anti-style.
0:06:32 > 0:06:34# Louis Seize he prefer
0:06:34 > 0:06:37# Laissez faire le strand
0:06:38 > 0:06:40# Tired of the tango
0:06:42 > 0:06:43# Fed up with fandango... #
0:06:47 > 0:06:52It wasn't, you know, wacky camera angles and whip pans and crash zooms
0:06:52 > 0:06:53and holding the camera upside down.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56You know, all these kind of naff, flash things
0:06:56 > 0:06:58that music television people do these days!
0:06:58 > 0:07:00# Against a boy
0:07:00 > 0:07:03# Who is a-whiskey fast
0:07:03 > 0:07:08# And a-honey slow... #
0:07:08 > 0:07:11Here, you could see people playing, live and for real, in the studio.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14And it was a way of discovering new music,
0:07:14 > 0:07:16which you couldn't do anywhere else.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19I remember seeing Randy Newman, and thinking, "That's great...
0:07:19 > 0:07:23"You could just sit at the piano, write a song, and play."
0:07:23 > 0:07:24# Let's drop the big one
0:07:24 > 0:07:27# There'll be no-one left to blame us... #
0:07:29 > 0:07:31We didn't intend it to be that way,
0:07:31 > 0:07:35it was really, absolutely, just a kind of needs must.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42# A model built for comfort... #
0:07:42 > 0:07:45I seem to remember hearing Trampled Underfoot
0:07:45 > 0:07:48and some weird, old, black-and-white footage,
0:07:48 > 0:07:50synched up in time with the music.
0:07:50 > 0:07:52So they were kind of doing their own videos.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55So I think that was pretty innovative, in many ways.
0:07:59 > 0:08:01# Factory air-conditioned... #
0:08:01 > 0:08:04They performed a number of functions, not least,
0:08:04 > 0:08:07they maintained a kind of mystery that a lot of the music had,
0:08:07 > 0:08:09that they had to do the films for,
0:08:09 > 0:08:11because you know, Led Zeppelin,
0:08:11 > 0:08:13whatever else the Old Grey Whistle Test could do,
0:08:13 > 0:08:16it couldn't get Led Zeppelin into the room! No way.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19That's like conjuring up Shakespeare or something!
0:08:21 > 0:08:24It became part of the whole idea of the programme,
0:08:24 > 0:08:28these nutty films that you could get stoned to very easily,
0:08:28 > 0:08:32and gave another kind of texture to what's in the programme,
0:08:32 > 0:08:34made it even more peculiar.
0:08:40 > 0:08:42Don't make 'em like that any more.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45HE YODELS OPERATICALLY
0:08:47 > 0:08:51The rise of The Whistle Test did coincide with the early prog era,
0:08:51 > 0:08:56what, horrifically, is now known as the first prog era,
0:08:56 > 0:08:58which implies there's another one.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03There were some dark times. I wasn't so keen on Camel.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06I remember seeing a dreadful bit of Camel,
0:09:06 > 0:09:09I think it was doing music from The Snow Goose or something.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11And they had some woodwind players,
0:09:11 > 0:09:14a little sort of woodwind quartet, as I recall,
0:09:14 > 0:09:17people playing cor anglais,
0:09:17 > 0:09:19and those school orchestra instruments Eddie Izzard said,
0:09:19 > 0:09:21it's like blowing into a weasel.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26And I remember thinking...
0:09:26 > 0:09:28"Nah, this ain't doing it for me at all, this."
0:09:31 > 0:09:35# If I leave here tomorrow... #
0:09:36 > 0:09:41Lynyrd Skynyrd would probably, to me, sum up that period.
0:09:41 > 0:09:43Free Bird, that went on for ever.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49# Cos I'm as free as a bird now
0:09:52 > 0:09:57# And this bird you cannot change
0:09:57 > 0:10:00# Whoah-oh-oh-oh... #
0:10:00 > 0:10:02It's like they'd been told,
0:10:02 > 0:10:04it was the end of the night and it could just go on...
0:10:11 > 0:10:14There's moments where you think it's ending,
0:10:14 > 0:10:15then they just decide to keep going!
0:10:26 > 0:10:28Theoretically, there was no end to it.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33"Maybe we could make it to the morning."
0:10:48 > 0:10:51Everyone was going, "My God, this stuff is art!"
0:10:51 > 0:10:54Some of it was pompous beyond belief,
0:10:54 > 0:10:57but a lot of it did appeal to enquiring young minds.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01If you didn't dig the heavy sounds,
0:11:01 > 0:11:05there were always the mellow, sensitive singer-songwriters.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08# Old-fashioned she might be
0:11:11 > 0:11:15# Dated like last year's pop song. #
0:11:16 > 0:11:21Typical Old Grey Whistle Test viewer at that time,
0:11:21 > 0:11:24I would imagine to be a bloke.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27I would imagine to be white.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30I would imagine to have longish hair.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33I would imagine to have owned an army greatcoat,
0:11:33 > 0:11:35or perhaps an afghan coat.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38Wearing suede desert boots,
0:11:38 > 0:11:42possibly occasionally wearing a raffia shoulder bag.
0:11:42 > 0:11:47# What a day, a year a life it is... #
0:11:47 > 0:11:50I suppose, typically, bearing in mind, there I am sitting there,
0:11:50 > 0:11:53with my long beard, my long hair...
0:11:53 > 0:11:57I'm sort of, "Oh, this is so cool, this is so great!" You know...
0:11:57 > 0:12:00Um... That's how...
0:12:00 > 0:12:04I was, I suppose typical of my own viewing audience.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06It's dead easy now to knock it...
0:12:06 > 0:12:10But that's what... I looked like that! At 16, I had a bloody beard!
0:12:10 > 0:12:12Because you did, you know.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15That was the way of differentiating from your dad.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19Your dad looked like what ended up looking like David Byrne.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21But then, you didn't want to look like that.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25A point in response to a number of letters we've had just lately
0:12:25 > 0:12:26about the Whistle Test badge.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28There, the star kicker.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31I'm amazed at the number of badge collectors.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33Students loved that show.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37They could stay up late at night, they didn't go out in the day,
0:12:37 > 0:12:42so all your '70s students and people who went to redbrick universities,
0:12:42 > 0:12:45they were absolutely... it was their show.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48# It was early Sunday evening...#
0:12:48 > 0:12:50Already blessed with a sense or heritage
0:12:50 > 0:12:55and a taste for the eclectic, the Whistle Test was a broad church.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59# ..Oh, want nobody... #
0:12:59 > 0:13:04# ..So much you want... #
0:13:04 > 0:13:07It was such a wide variety of music that was being played.
0:13:07 > 0:13:11It wasn't just a prog programme. It wasn't a folk programme.
0:13:11 > 0:13:12Already, because of the albums,
0:13:12 > 0:13:16music in the early '70s was splitting up into tons of genres.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19But they weren't yet getting names like they do now.
0:13:19 > 0:13:20It was either pop or rock, you know.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22Underground music, progressive music,
0:13:22 > 0:13:26but within that you'd have Tim Buckley, Beefheart, Randy Newman,
0:13:26 > 0:13:30Focus and Alice Cooper and the New York Dolls.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33# Flying around New York City so high
0:13:33 > 0:13:34# Like he was my baby... #
0:13:34 > 0:13:38It was pretty eclectic and pretty brave for the times.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41# We just keep on keeping on
0:13:44 > 0:13:49# We just keep on keeping on... #
0:13:49 > 0:13:53We had people like Curtis Mayfield for soul.
0:13:53 > 0:13:55Freddy King, blues guitar.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02Bob Marley and the Wailers
0:14:02 > 0:14:06making their first major TV appearance in 1973.
0:14:06 > 0:14:07# ..Stir it up
0:14:10 > 0:14:13# Little darlin'
0:14:13 > 0:14:15# Stir it up... #
0:14:15 > 0:14:18A very rare moment of these people
0:14:18 > 0:14:22and it was because they made these great albums, great songs,
0:14:22 > 0:14:25that weren't singles and it didn't matter that they didn't sell.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29What was important was the worth and the weight of the music.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31# Yeah!
0:14:33 > 0:14:37# Me, I really would have liked
0:14:37 > 0:14:40# A little bit of tenderness
0:14:40 > 0:14:42# Maybe a word, maybe a smile... #
0:14:42 > 0:14:46The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, I think, doing Next,
0:14:46 > 0:14:50with a string quartet, with rubber masks on...
0:14:50 > 0:14:53I mean, unless this is some strange...
0:14:53 > 0:14:56Unless I'd had a bottle of cider and two Disprins as a kid
0:14:56 > 0:15:01and it's all playing strange tricks on me, I remember that and thinking,
0:15:01 > 0:15:04"Who is this lunatic?"
0:15:04 > 0:15:07# One day I'll cut my legs off
0:15:07 > 0:15:09# Burn myself alive
0:15:09 > 0:15:12# I'll do anything to get out of life
0:15:12 > 0:15:16# To survive, not ever to be next... #
0:15:16 > 0:15:17I'd never heard of the song,
0:15:17 > 0:15:20I'd never heard of Jacques Brel, I'd never heard of Alex Harvey,
0:15:20 > 0:15:23the guitar player was a Pierrot clown, you know,
0:15:23 > 0:15:25it was like, blimey!
0:15:25 > 0:15:29# Not ever
0:15:29 > 0:15:36# Not ever to be
0:15:36 > 0:15:37# Next! #
0:15:42 > 0:15:46Unbelievable. It were like that hit me right between the eyes.
0:15:46 > 0:15:48The presenters of Top Of The Pops
0:15:48 > 0:15:53were middle-aged DJs who were, I guess, safe uncles.
0:15:53 > 0:15:58For the Whistle Test, I guess the idea was that the presenter would be
0:15:58 > 0:16:04a cross between an older brother figure and a really hip lecturer.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06Tomorrow night, the National Film Theatre in London
0:16:06 > 0:16:09begins a season devoted to pop in the cinema...
0:16:09 > 0:16:12The first Whistle Test presenter was Richard Williams,
0:16:12 > 0:16:14who was a writer from Melody Maker,
0:16:14 > 0:16:18and one of the best critics of his generation.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21If it's Tuesday, it must be Whistle Test.
0:16:21 > 0:16:23He was replaced by the quintessential
0:16:23 > 0:16:26Whistle Test presenter, Bob Harris.
0:16:26 > 0:16:27Their current visit to Britain
0:16:27 > 0:16:31coincides with the release of a new LP called I'll Play For You.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35But they're playing for us tonight two songs from the LP Summer Breeze.
0:16:35 > 0:16:36It's Seals And Crofts.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45# See the curtains hanging in the window
0:16:45 > 0:16:48# In the evening on a Friday night... #
0:16:48 > 0:16:49In the early '70s,
0:16:49 > 0:16:53Old Grey Whistle Test and Bob went together perfectly.
0:16:53 > 0:16:55It very much became Bob's world, really.
0:16:59 > 0:17:00That was really nice...
0:17:00 > 0:17:04The style of presentation, the laid-back, late-night thing
0:17:04 > 0:17:08which is easy to lampoon now, and has almost become a cliche...
0:17:08 > 0:17:09Nice!
0:17:15 > 0:17:19Tonight on Whistle Test, we've got Rex Higgins, Steve Flea,
0:17:19 > 0:17:24the Wretched Admiral Sphincter, Grunties, Hot Nadgers, Red Buttocks
0:17:24 > 0:17:29and Toe The West Sprocket, so it promises to be really good.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32Bob Harris was essentially a nice hippy
0:17:32 > 0:17:35who introduced nice hippy groups.
0:17:35 > 0:17:37It was really nice.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41We were talking earlier about the kind of venues that you're doing.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44They're really enormous venues you're playing.
0:17:44 > 0:17:46Yeah, and they get bigger and bigger.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49- How many people came to the concerts?- Five.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53- 5,000?- No, five. 12 with the roadies.
0:17:53 > 0:17:58In its time, it was so original, so clever and so ground-breaking
0:17:58 > 0:18:00and he just said, "Give me some of that."
0:18:00 > 0:18:05He loved the music, that was important, and he knew about it.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08And when somebody loves and knows about something, you listen to them.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11For some time now, Ry Cooder has been regarded
0:18:11 > 0:18:12as an ace session player.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15His record company says he has loaned his identity
0:18:15 > 0:18:18to countless artists during the past half decade,
0:18:18 > 0:18:21and the list is long, including Captain Beefheart, Taj Mahal,
0:18:21 > 0:18:23Little Feat and many others.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26He's in this country for a few days
0:18:26 > 0:18:30and we're lucky he's visiting our studio. This is The Vigilante Man.
0:18:33 > 0:18:35He was like an educator.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38But he was feisty too, despite the gentleness.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41It was a BBC expert crossing over into the strange new world
0:18:41 > 0:18:43of underground rock.
0:18:43 > 0:18:47The fact that I introduce all the music on the Old Grey Whistle Test
0:18:47 > 0:18:49doesn't mean I recommend all of them.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52Some things, for sure, that being one, but not everything -
0:18:52 > 0:18:54this next band being a case in point.
0:18:54 > 0:18:59Mark Radcliffe, in particular, still holds a grudge towards me
0:18:59 > 0:19:02because I said on air that I didn't like Roxy Music.
0:19:02 > 0:19:04# Maybe
0:19:04 > 0:19:07# If you wanna find a lover
0:19:07 > 0:19:10# Then you look no further
0:19:10 > 0:19:14# For I'm going to be your only
0:19:15 > 0:19:16# The searching... #
0:19:16 > 0:19:21Bob, who I'd come to trust as my kind of music buddy,
0:19:21 > 0:19:23you know, cos that was all we had,
0:19:23 > 0:19:26and I remember him at the end of it, he said,
0:19:26 > 0:19:30"Well, if that's the future of rock'n'roll, you can keep it."
0:19:40 > 0:19:43I was so disappointed because I thought,
0:19:43 > 0:19:47"Oh, Bob, I like you and you're on the telly and you're cool,
0:19:47 > 0:19:50"but this is obviously fantastic, Roxy Music.
0:19:50 > 0:19:52"We're going to have to go our separate ways here, Bob."
0:19:52 > 0:19:55# ..Like he was my baby
0:19:55 > 0:19:57# Like he was my baby... #
0:19:57 > 0:20:03Everybody who saw it remembers the appearance of the New York Dolls.
0:20:03 > 0:20:05# ..Like he was my baby... #
0:20:05 > 0:20:07Poor old Uncle Bob could not cope.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10This is not why he opened his youth club.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13# ..Like he was my baby
0:20:13 > 0:20:15# M-M-M-My baby... #
0:20:17 > 0:20:18Mock rock.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22I think in two words I'd nailed them pretty accurately.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25Did I really like them? No, I didn't particularly.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28Everybody whose soul contained
0:20:28 > 0:20:33a spark of real rock'n'roll spirit immediately hated him.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36He basically, er...
0:20:36 > 0:20:39He didn't know this, but he was actually kicking off
0:20:39 > 0:20:43the whole punk thing when he called us a bunch of rubbish in 1973 on TV.
0:20:43 > 0:20:47Who's watching this thing? It's all your next bands.
0:20:47 > 0:20:49# I am an anarchist... #
0:20:49 > 0:20:52In 1976, punk's blasphemous assault on the old music
0:20:52 > 0:20:55was ignored by Bob and his producers,
0:20:55 > 0:20:59who seemed to regard rock musicians as superior beings.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04I think it was Whistle Test's darkest hour probably,
0:21:04 > 0:21:07for people of my age,
0:21:07 > 0:21:10was its slow reaction to punk.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13I've wondered whether punk rock was anything to do with music.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23# White riot, I wanna riot... #
0:21:23 > 0:21:26There was music within the punk movement that I thought was good.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29And I thought there was an awful lot that was crap.
0:21:29 > 0:21:31And, er...
0:21:31 > 0:21:33just because you can jump up and down and spit
0:21:33 > 0:21:35it didn't mean necessarily,
0:21:35 > 0:21:37for my money, that it was worthwhile.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40It would have shattered the atmosphere of the programme,
0:21:40 > 0:21:42they felt, to have introduced it.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46There is a world that Bob's a part of where they like to give something
0:21:46 > 0:21:50a good few years before they feel it's entered the canon.
0:21:51 > 0:21:52The show's idea of enjoyment
0:21:52 > 0:21:55involved sitting in a field or a spartan studio,
0:21:55 > 0:21:59but punk was about the sheer energy of the music,
0:21:59 > 0:22:01and, more importantly, the audience.
0:22:01 > 0:22:06The punk kids who came in just hated me, the programme,
0:22:06 > 0:22:09virtually everybody on it.
0:22:09 > 0:22:13They were determined to drive a wrecking ball right through
0:22:13 > 0:22:18the centre of everything the Whistle Test represented.
0:22:18 > 0:22:22And there I am in the middle, going, "But what is there not to like?"
0:22:22 > 0:22:26# I wanna be... #
0:22:26 > 0:22:31It was the day that the Sex Pistols had signed with A&M.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34They'd done quite a bit of damage there
0:22:34 > 0:22:36and they roared up to the Speakeasy.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38A guy comes over to me and said,
0:22:38 > 0:22:41"When are the Pistols going to be on Whistle Test?"
0:22:41 > 0:22:46It didn't matter what I said, he took a swing at me.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50This was the trigger for all hell breaking loose.
0:22:50 > 0:22:51You'd never believe it,
0:22:51 > 0:22:56that violence could erupt to such a scale in such a closed environment.
0:22:56 > 0:23:01Sid Vicious had broken a bottle, I've got my back to this wall,
0:23:01 > 0:23:06and six or seven guys came at me with broken glass in their hands.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10I was going, "Listen, guys..." They came at... I was so lucky
0:23:10 > 0:23:14because about 10-12 people got in-between them and me.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18And I discovered later it was the Procul Harem road crew.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21# I was feeling kind of seasick... #
0:23:21 > 0:23:22Mm, heavy.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26The idea of Sid versus Bob is such a classic idea of a confrontation.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29Suddenly there was a huge chasm in British culture
0:23:29 > 0:23:33between those that could sink back into complacency,
0:23:33 > 0:23:35and it was almost pipe and slippers stuff,
0:23:35 > 0:23:37the way they listened to their music,
0:23:37 > 0:23:42nice songs about love, doodling about, you know, the pixies,
0:23:42 > 0:23:46and Sid, who was like a figure from a kind of '68 revolutionary Paris,
0:23:46 > 0:23:48you know, everything was going to change.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51It was a wonderful, symbolic moment.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54Punk had to happen. It was very important.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58What had happened - and don't blame Bob for this - you had pomp rock.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01Rick Wakeman would be the first to admit
0:24:01 > 0:24:05that doing his show on ice was really going too far.
0:24:05 > 0:24:10And everything was gone up its own ass and it was too pompous
0:24:10 > 0:24:13and taking itself far too seriously.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16When you get that, you think, "Oh, it's finished."
0:24:16 > 0:24:21The Whistle Test suffered from that, and I'm sure that Bob Harris did,
0:24:21 > 0:24:24because, whatever his musical taste was,
0:24:24 > 0:24:28he was never going to be able to reinvent himself as a punk rocker.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31He was, quite clearly, old school,
0:24:31 > 0:24:35prog rock and could never pretend to be anything else.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38As you can see, we have them back tonight with their new image.
0:24:38 > 0:24:40Can I present to you, Dr Hook?
0:24:40 > 0:24:42I was quoted at the time as saying
0:24:42 > 0:24:45I thought I'd become the Ken Barlow of rock.
0:24:45 > 0:24:50I, for my own sanity, also felt that I had to step away from it and go,
0:24:50 > 0:24:52"Right, I'm going to start again."
0:24:52 > 0:24:54Can I introduce you to the lady
0:24:54 > 0:24:56who will be with you through the coming months?
0:24:56 > 0:24:58It's that ace canoeist, Anne Nightingale.
0:24:58 > 0:25:00Road To Ruin... Thank you, Bob.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03..is the title of the Ramones' fourth album.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06They arrived this morning from touring the Continent.
0:25:06 > 0:25:08One, two, three, four!
0:25:16 > 0:25:20# You know, it's generally known
0:25:20 > 0:25:22# You've got everything at home
0:25:22 > 0:25:25# Kisses out of desperation
0:25:25 > 0:25:28# Bring you more aggravation
0:25:28 > 0:25:30# And you don't come close
0:25:30 > 0:25:33# You don't come close... #
0:25:33 > 0:25:38A fresh presenter was needed and Annie Nightingale created
0:25:38 > 0:25:43a more welcoming atmosphere than Bob would have done.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46Hello and welcome to Whistle Test, coming to you from Siberia.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49Well, Shepperton, actually, but it's close...
0:25:49 > 0:25:53Maybe it was easier with a different presenter and I think, possibly,
0:25:53 > 0:25:57some of the punk lot hadn't wanted to be on the Whistle Test
0:25:57 > 0:26:00because they associated it with Lynyrd Skynyrd, if you like.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04At last, the 1978 show.
0:26:04 > 0:26:09Effing and blinding, pogoing and gobbing made its way onto the show.
0:26:09 > 0:26:10Well, almost.
0:26:10 > 0:26:15The Test finally featured its first punk outfit, the Adverts, in 1978.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18# We talk in hope to hit on something new
0:26:20 > 0:26:22# Tied to the railway track
0:26:22 > 0:26:26# It's one way to revive But no way to relax
0:26:26 > 0:26:29# We're just bored teenagers
0:26:29 > 0:26:32# Looking for love Or should I say emotional rages
0:26:32 > 0:26:36# Bored teenagers Seeing ourselves as strangers... #
0:26:36 > 0:26:39Once punk had been welcomed into the Old Grey fold,
0:26:39 > 0:26:43the show became a platform for spirited performances with attitude.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46LYRICS INDISTINCT
0:26:51 > 0:26:55# I don't want to be nice
0:26:55 > 0:26:58# I think it's clever to swear
0:26:58 > 0:27:02# Best heed some sound advice
0:27:02 > 0:27:04# I would look elsewhere... #
0:27:04 > 0:27:07There were classic performances, like the Damned.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11I stood in front of them to introduce them like I normally did.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15I knew something was going on behind me. I knew they were playing games.
0:27:15 > 0:27:17What?!
0:27:17 > 0:27:21Then they played Smash It Up and thought they'd take it literally,
0:27:21 > 0:27:24so they smashed up the entire studio set.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40I think they enjoyed themselves.
0:27:40 > 0:27:44There was a delightful air of sacrilege about the whole thing.
0:27:44 > 0:27:46The hoolies had arrived.
0:27:46 > 0:27:50Annie for a moment gave it a little kick, not least the feminine kick,
0:27:50 > 0:27:52in the sense of something that, you know,
0:27:52 > 0:27:57wasn't necessarily about archiving the music alphabetically.
0:27:57 > 0:27:59Yes! The girls got him in the end...
0:27:59 > 0:28:03It was quite a jolt to have a woman fronting a rock show at that time.
0:28:03 > 0:28:05Almost like a suffragette, really.
0:28:05 > 0:28:10I mean, she pioneered it being acceptable for women to do that.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13And she was great, she wasn't trying too hard.
0:28:13 > 0:28:17Squeeze are in the studio tonight to play two tracks from the album -
0:28:17 > 0:28:21It's So Dirty and firstly, Slap And Tickle. Here's Squeeze.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35When Squeeze eventually came in
0:28:35 > 0:28:39to these 1950s, beautiful acoustic panels - the thing behind me -
0:28:39 > 0:28:41came in and saw those, you know,
0:28:41 > 0:28:45this is the real studio where they actually do it, it was so exciting.
0:28:45 > 0:28:46It was great.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49We wanted to liven it up and take the earnestness out,
0:28:49 > 0:28:53so they said, "If one of you want to make an announcement, you can."
0:28:53 > 0:28:56So we concocted this rather appalling joke.
0:28:56 > 0:28:59There's just been a message sent in from reception.
0:28:59 > 0:29:04Would the owner of the blue Ford Cortina, registration number PEN 1S,
0:29:04 > 0:29:09please go to reception as he's blocking a fire exit. Thank you.
0:29:09 > 0:29:13A bit of rather babyish, schoolboy humour.
0:29:13 > 0:29:15Cos PEN 15 spells "penis", you see.
0:29:15 > 0:29:17Just spelling it out there.
0:29:22 > 0:29:27There were a lot of acts who sort of arrived with punk and who were
0:29:27 > 0:29:30just carried along in its slipstream.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33And, for a programme like the Whistle Test,
0:29:33 > 0:29:39which was basically always an establishment programme,
0:29:39 > 0:29:43it was probably a lot easier to cope with some of the slipstream acts,
0:29:43 > 0:29:45both in terms of, you know,
0:29:45 > 0:29:48the amount of complaints they'd generate,
0:29:48 > 0:29:51and how they were likely to behave in the studio.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54They might have a little sneer to let the punks know
0:29:54 > 0:29:57they were something to do with the punk movement,
0:29:57 > 0:30:01but they weren't actually going to cause any serious trouble.
0:30:01 > 0:30:05Along with the new wave came David Hepworth in 1980.
0:30:05 > 0:30:08Yet another music journo with an A Level in rock'n'roll.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11And now for something completely different...
0:30:11 > 0:30:14Hepworth's old NME sidekick Mark Ellen was also drafted in
0:30:14 > 0:30:16to take us into the '80s,
0:30:16 > 0:30:18as the show's take on hip, young gunslingers.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21..What we've got on the programme tonight.
0:30:21 > 0:30:23On tonight's programme, in the studio...
0:30:23 > 0:30:25When Ellen and Hepworth took over,
0:30:25 > 0:30:29I didn't know who they were, I'd no idea who they were, um...
0:30:29 > 0:30:32it turned out they were journalists. Who knew?
0:30:32 > 0:30:34This chap on my right actually claims
0:30:34 > 0:30:37that this week he was rung up by a look-alikes agency
0:30:37 > 0:30:41and asked to play the part of Paul McCartney in a film.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44This is your opportunity to confirm or deny this rumour.
0:30:44 > 0:30:46It is actually true, but I turned it down
0:30:46 > 0:30:49because I didn't feel I looked young enough for the part.
0:30:49 > 0:30:51They were a fairly good double act.
0:30:51 > 0:30:55And it stuck true to the tradition of not being too showbiz,
0:30:55 > 0:30:56not trying too hard
0:30:56 > 0:30:59they always looked like they'd tumbled out of some pub
0:30:59 > 0:31:03and just kind of rolled in and done it.
0:31:03 > 0:31:05When I was offered this job,
0:31:05 > 0:31:08they made a lot about the opportunities for travel.
0:31:08 > 0:31:13Last week, Shepherds Bush, this week the Regal Theatre in Hitchin.
0:31:13 > 0:31:15# Once in every lifetime... #
0:31:15 > 0:31:18In the early '80s, the TV landscape was changing
0:31:18 > 0:31:21and comedy was now the new rock'n'roll.
0:31:21 > 0:31:23# ..Oh, my darling, can't you see?
0:31:23 > 0:31:25# Young ones... #
0:31:25 > 0:31:28OK, pop music, let's go.
0:31:28 > 0:31:31Anyone here like the Human League?
0:31:31 > 0:31:33The Old Grey Whistle Test plodded doggedly on,
0:31:33 > 0:31:37but the other music shows were moving with the times.
0:31:37 > 0:31:39Even Top Of The Pops blew up a few balloons
0:31:39 > 0:31:42and partied on down with the decade of excess.
0:31:42 > 0:31:46# Wham, bam, I am a man... #
0:31:47 > 0:31:52I guess the Whistle Test seemed a little shop-worn
0:31:52 > 0:31:55by the '80s.
0:31:55 > 0:31:58Channel Four had just launched The Tube,
0:31:58 > 0:32:00which was fast, noisy and brash.
0:32:02 > 0:32:05The Tube was big budget, live and early evening.
0:32:05 > 0:32:08It had a noisy audience and mixed comedy and music -
0:32:08 > 0:32:12a combination the Whistle Test had always struggled to master.
0:32:12 > 0:32:14Hello and welcome to The Tube.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17'I think the spontaneity made The Tube lively'
0:32:17 > 0:32:21and it wasn't at all earnest and it was genuinely anarchic
0:32:21 > 0:32:23because nobody knew what they were doing.
0:32:23 > 0:32:26At the other end here, you've got a suburban living room.
0:32:26 > 0:32:27What's going on?
0:32:27 > 0:32:32The Tube was very much a post-punk programme,
0:32:32 > 0:32:36deliberately made as a reaction to the Whistle Test,
0:32:36 > 0:32:39by then looking very old and very grey.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42It's currently at number 43 in the LP chart, isn't it?
0:32:42 > 0:32:45It was 37 last week, which means it's going down.
0:32:45 > 0:32:49The Tube was about the moment, it seemed to represent
0:32:49 > 0:32:52the excess of the moment, it was of the '80s,
0:32:52 > 0:32:55and the Whistle Test, still this worthy attempt
0:32:55 > 0:32:58to give you music that someone had decided was good for you.
0:32:58 > 0:33:01There's your man, on stage, Loudon Wainwright.
0:33:01 > 0:33:03CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:33:05 > 0:33:07WHISTLE TEST THEME PLAYS
0:33:07 > 0:33:11That tune you just heard, Stone Fox Chase, by Area Code 615,
0:33:11 > 0:33:15that's the last time you'll hear it associated with this programme
0:33:15 > 0:33:18because, from the beginning of the next series,
0:33:18 > 0:33:21which starts auspiciously enough on Friday 13th January,
0:33:21 > 0:33:22we've given it the elbow.
0:33:22 > 0:33:26Two of the words of the programme's title are to be brutally lopped off
0:33:26 > 0:33:29and from now on it's going to be known solely as The Whistle Test.
0:33:32 > 0:33:34Good evening, this is Whistle Test...
0:33:34 > 0:33:39Classic sign of weakness - you can't even stick to the brand name.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42It would take more than new titles, an almost-snazzy new set
0:33:42 > 0:33:44and a couple of new, young presenters
0:33:44 > 0:33:49for the Whistle Test to stop feeling like the graveyard shift of rock TV.
0:33:51 > 0:33:53How do you link a video of Paul Young
0:33:53 > 0:33:56with the first live TV performance of a group hailed
0:33:56 > 0:33:59as the most controversial band since the Sex Pistols?
0:33:59 > 0:34:01Perhaps critics of this programme
0:34:01 > 0:34:05who say it's still old and very grey could offer some idea.
0:34:05 > 0:34:09I suspect they couldn't, so all I'll say is sit back, hold tight
0:34:09 > 0:34:12and enjoy the total noise and summer sounds of the band that
0:34:12 > 0:34:16can't get a gig anywhere except on this programme -
0:34:16 > 0:34:17the Jesus And Mary Chain.
0:34:24 > 0:34:28# Grass grows greener on the other side
0:34:29 > 0:34:33# The corn grows sweeter on the other side... #
0:34:33 > 0:34:36Things like Whistle Test really should just stick to what they do
0:34:36 > 0:34:39because it's kind of its own thing. I think that's where sometimes
0:34:39 > 0:34:43people running programmes and channels and things make a mistake.
0:34:43 > 0:34:45They make a knee-jerk reaction and say,
0:34:45 > 0:34:48"Let's make Whistle Test not so old and grey,
0:34:48 > 0:34:52"let's make it a bit more funky to combat The Tube."
0:34:52 > 0:34:55But you should probably just carry on doing it the same.
0:34:55 > 0:34:59There's only so many ways you can rearrange the furniture,
0:34:59 > 0:35:01bring in new presenters,
0:35:01 > 0:35:04and generally try and snazz it up
0:35:04 > 0:35:08before you have to admit the Old Grey Whistle Test
0:35:08 > 0:35:09is your dad's rock show.
0:35:09 > 0:35:11..Bruce Springsteen and Jimmy Page.
0:35:11 > 0:35:14In 1987, guitar rock was declared officially dead
0:35:14 > 0:35:19and the Whistle Test was sacrificed on the altar of "youth TV".
0:35:19 > 0:35:22There's no doubt that, by the time it was taken away
0:35:22 > 0:35:25by a BBC that was very self-conscious about progress
0:35:25 > 0:35:29and Janet Street-Porter's vision of a new kind of television,
0:35:29 > 0:35:32guitar rock, the Whistle Test idea of guitar rock,
0:35:32 > 0:35:36would have seemed as old fashioned as George Formby and Gracie Fields.
0:35:36 > 0:35:38It shouldn't have come to an end,
0:35:38 > 0:35:43but I'm sure that it's those fairly arbitrary decisions that are made
0:35:43 > 0:35:46by people who want to come in and make their own mark.
0:35:46 > 0:35:50Of doing things that are very hyper-trendy and of that moment.
0:35:50 > 0:35:52There's nothing wrong with that,
0:35:52 > 0:35:56but there's nothing wrong with having what was there as well.
0:35:56 > 0:35:57It doesn't need to be either or.
0:36:00 > 0:36:04Sorry, sir, you can't park here, it's a restricted area.
0:36:04 > 0:36:08Jools sometimes calls Later "Grandson of Whistle Test".
0:36:09 > 0:36:12Which is probably about right, actually.
0:36:12 > 0:36:17You know, the ethos of Whistle Test did then transfer across into Later.
0:36:17 > 0:36:20Later's more like Russian roulette,
0:36:20 > 0:36:23even in the way the camera spins round.
0:36:23 > 0:36:28Your turn! Then you stand watching all the other bands and thinking,
0:36:28 > 0:36:30"They sound good, I bet we'll be shit."
0:36:30 > 0:36:33I guess you didn't get that on the Old Grey Whistle Test.
0:36:33 > 0:36:37I think it was a bit too respectful to the music, really.
0:36:37 > 0:36:39Fantastic!
0:36:39 > 0:36:42I'm so pleased that the one-and-only Mr Paul Weller is here too.
0:36:50 > 0:36:53# I've got a feeling from the floorboards up
0:36:53 > 0:36:56# Call it a calling if you like that touch... #
0:36:56 > 0:37:00Later With Jools upheld that great tradition of interesting live music,
0:37:00 > 0:37:03but done in a different way, and it's good it's there.
0:37:03 > 0:37:07Whether it would be there if not for Whistle Test, who can tell?
0:37:07 > 0:37:09So, was the show truly great?
0:37:09 > 0:37:15Has the Old Grey Whistle Test stood the test of time?
0:37:15 > 0:37:17Do I really need to ask?
0:37:17 > 0:37:21When we're done making all the jokes about Bob Harris,
0:37:21 > 0:37:25the archive of performances the Old Grey Whistle Test generated
0:37:25 > 0:37:28represent the absolute crown jewels
0:37:28 > 0:37:31in terms of the rock and pop of its time.
0:37:34 > 0:37:36# You've done too much Much too young... #
0:37:36 > 0:37:39Everybody got tarred with the same brush,
0:37:39 > 0:37:42so if something was going to be interesting,
0:37:42 > 0:37:45it was down to the fact that the people in front of the camera
0:37:45 > 0:37:48were interesting, be that musically or they had a funny way
0:37:48 > 0:37:50of performing or something.
0:37:50 > 0:37:55It gave you a level playing field, which we English do like,
0:37:55 > 0:37:59so you either shine on it or fall depending on,
0:37:59 > 0:38:01you know, your abilities.
0:38:01 > 0:38:03Wherever else you see a band,
0:38:03 > 0:38:05on Top Of The Pops or In Concert in the '70s,
0:38:05 > 0:38:08it just doesn't have the same strangeness as it does
0:38:08 > 0:38:10when you see an Old Grey Whistle Test clip.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13And the words behind them - Old Grey Whistle Test.
0:38:13 > 0:38:15They've become abstract.
0:38:15 > 0:38:19And absolutely, Arctic Monkeys would recreate that because,
0:38:19 > 0:38:22looking back on it, 30 years later, that's really strange.
0:38:22 > 0:38:26Those who are interested in music now would yearn for that.
0:38:26 > 0:38:27# ..Like a robot from 1984
0:38:27 > 0:38:30# From 1984... #
0:38:30 > 0:38:34There's a kind of retro, '70s food revival.
0:38:34 > 0:38:36You know, everybody's saying,
0:38:36 > 0:38:40"Actually, I always liked prawn cocktail
0:38:40 > 0:38:42"and chicken Maryland and rum baba."
0:38:42 > 0:38:46I liked all that and I'd like to have all that again.
0:38:46 > 0:38:50I liked the Whistle Test and I'd like to have that again.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53# I said I bet that you look good on the dance floor
0:38:53 > 0:38:57# Dancing to electro-pop like a robot from 1984
0:38:57 > 0:39:01# I said from 1984. #
0:39:06 > 0:39:08Mm, that's what it's all about.